mindful reflection

You may have heard Stephen Schettini speak in person or on the radio, or have come across his newspaper columns and articles. For more information take a look at his personal website:

For more detailed information see:

Mindful Reflection™ is a comprehensive path to peace and independence of mind based on ancient Buddhist meditative and reflective practices. It has been formulated over the past decade during hundreds of hands-on workshops.

As the name implies, the goal of our seminars and workshops is a quiet mind; it may seem simple, but the process is less so. While we seek the life-affirming balance that comes from a clear mind and open heart, what we find is the interminable inner chatter – more confusion than clarity.

Patience, compassion and forebearance are indispensable tools in this struggle for self-awareness, but they're not sufficient in themselves. They only produce results when they're part of a broader strategic method. That's when mindful reflection steps up to the mark as a combination of mindful awareness and critical reflection.

A common stereotype of meditation is ‘emptying’ the mind. While we have to slow down thought and emotional processes in order to see what's going on, aiming directly at this sort of emptiness is a recipe for frustration. The mind is by definition aware; our purpose is to clarify that awareness, not stop it. That's why mindful reflection takes a two-pronged approach to putting you in touch with reality.

Mindful Awareness is intentional, nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment:

Intentional: increased awareness of present reality and your choices undermines compulsive thinking (the inner chatter), in which one thought leads another and you're “lost in thought;”
Nonjudgmental: by sizing up circumstances and yourself against your notions of how things ‘should’ be, judgment clouds your perspective, stirs up more emotions and complicates your response, often to the point of overwhelming confusion;
In the present moment: Focusing on sensory experience anchors you to events as they happen and trains you to turn off the inner chatter.
[The inner chatter is a source of creativity. However, if you can't turn it off, it's also the main disruptor of mental-emotional balance.]

In short, mindful awareness establishes and widens a gap between stimulus and response.

“The highest form of Human Excellence is to question oneself and others.” —Socrates

Critical Reflection is a way of clarifying your thinking and understanding how it leads to emotional responses. It enables you to take advantage of the stimulus-response gap and adjust your reaction to things. It is an empirical method based on exploration, curiosity & discovery. It:

Defuses expectations, in particular self-defeating longings for specific outcomes;
Opens you to change as an inevitable and acceptable feature of life;
Accepts circumstances, self and other without seeking to 'fix' them, but also gives you a say in how to respond;
Is caring towards yourself and others.

Ultimately, while recognizing that you have a say in what happens, mindful reflection:

Loosens identification with negative experience and emotions;
Accepts causality;
Enables experience to trump belief, expectation and the notion that things should be other than they are.

Through long-term practice, the stressful cycle of control/frustration is gradually displaced by one of discovery/openness. It's like entering into a new relationship with yourself, and then with others. Gradually, you stop trying to make life conform to your hopes and expectations. No matter how blessed or cursed you consider your life, this means shedding illusions and coming to terms with the reality of living in a stressful and unpredictable world. This radical willingness to work with what you have is profoundly empowering. Your heart and mind will open to your own individuality and unlock the door to unknown, sometimes surprising, potential.

This transformed attitude towards oneself, others and life itself promotes physical, mental and emotional healing and is experienced quite simply as a path to happiness.